Michael Waldman writes about the recent Supreme Court gun ruling: The Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday striking down a New York gun law isn’t just the most significant ruling on the Second Amendment in a dozen years — it may be the...
guns
Senate passes bipartisan gun bill
Here is NBC News: The Senate on Thursday night passed the most sweeping gun bill designed to prevent gun violence in decades, a major victory for advocates and a rare defeat for the National Rifle Association. The vote was 65 to 33, with all...
The GOP is in a dark place right now
This letter was sent to Adam Kinzinger’s home. He is a veteran and a GOP member of the House January 6th Select Committee. The letter was addressed to his wife: This is not the first time Kinzinger has released a...
Ohio governor Mike DeWine wants guns in classrooms
DeWine will probably sign a bill that will allow teachers to carry weapons in their classrooms after 24 hours of training. Here is NPR on Ohio House Bill 99: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is poised to sign a bill on...
Senators agree on bipartisan gun safety
A step in the right direction. Here is a Politico: A group of 20 senators struck a bipartisan gun safety framework on Sunday, marking a significant breakthrough in Congress’ attempts to address recent back-to-back mass shootings. In a Sunday morning...
Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey on guns
Over at The Washington Post, the Pennsylvania senator writes about how he changed his mind about guns after Sandy Hook. Here is a taste: I’m a U.S. senator who has done something rare in today’s politics: I’ve changed my position...
Former Texas GOP congressman Will Hurd: “I want more than thoughts and prayers”
Hurd represented Uvalde, Texas from 2014-2021. Here is a taste of his piece at The New York Times: We are not helpless, and if the people we elect to address our country’s tough challenges think nothing can or should be...
Gerson: The GOP spin on guns is “wrong–morally and legally”
Here is Michael Gerson’s recent Washington Post column: Is the slaughter of innocents the unavoidable price of freedom? A significant group of Americans believe it is. In a recent CBS-YouGov poll, 44 percent of Republicans agreed that mass shootings are...
There were twelve people killed in mass shootings this weekend
Here is Dennis Romero of NBC News: The first weekend of June marked a greater number of mass shooting deaths in the United States than the previous three-day weekend, which ended with Memorial Day. The tally for weekend violence through...
At least Marjorie Taylor Greene believes Christian nationalism exists
She makes no bones about it. She is a Christian nationalist. Watch: It is worth noting that this is a different rhetorical strategy from the one employed by Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano. Here is a taste of Eliza Griswold’s...
Mastriano compares gun control to Nazism
He is a “historian with a doctor in history.” No historian worth his salt would make such a sloppy and manipulative comparison. Watch: Mastriano’s claim here has been widely debunked and/or problematized. Also here. Also here. Get up to speed...
A short history of the National Rifle Association
Robert Spitzer, a scholar of U.S. gun policy and the NRA, divides the history of the organization into three phases: Phase One: At first the group was mainly concerned with marksmanship. It later played a relatively constructive role regarding safety-minded gun...
Watch Ted Cruz spin
Watch: Cruz seems to be on the ropes here, but then the reporter mentions “American exceptionalism.” Ah! There it is! Cruz pounces. You can almost see the light bulb (or perhaps the trigger) go off in his head. He now...
There have been 15 mass shootings in the United States since Uvalde
Yes, you read that correctly. Here is Annabelle Timsit at The Washington Post: After a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers last week, many politicians, public figures and...
Do guns have ANYTHING to do with mass shootings? No, according to Ted Cruz
In Cruz’s world, gun violence happens because of “the elites who dominate our culture,” the media, corporate leaders, Hollywood, homelessness, gangs, “radical” district attorneys, “cultural sickness,” despair, isolation, “sick souls,” broken families, absent fathers, declining church attendance, social medial bullying,...
What we have said about guns and gun control over the years
Despite what I have heard from a few folks in the last day or two, I think we’ve been pretty consistent over the years: May 28, 2021: When it comes to the Second Amendment, Matt Gaetz has no clue March...
On abortion, the Trump court evangelicals need the Supreme Court. On gun violence, all they have are “thoughts and prayers.”
If you read my Current piece on Thursday or Dan Williams’s piece today and want another example of the inherent contradiction in the Christian pro-life movement, just read the recent e-mail Trump court evangelical Paula White-Cain’s “National Faith Advisory Board‘...
Which lawmakers get the most contributions from gun rights groups?
From Axios: Sen. Ted Cruz (TX): $442,000 Rep. Steve Scalise (LA): $396,000 Sen. John Cornyn (TX): $340,000 Sen. Lindsey Grahan (SC): $284,000 Sen. Mitch McConnell (KY): $247,000 Rep. Devin Nunes (CA): $228, 000 Sen. Ron Johnson (WI): 223,000 Rep. Kevin...
What Beto did
In case you missed it, yesterday Texas gubernatorial candidate (and U.S. Senate candidate and presidential candidate and former Congressman) Beto O’Rourke disrupted Texas governor Greg Abbott’s press conference on the school shooting in Ulvade: Watch: In addition to Abbott, Lieutenant...
Nicholas Kristof: Gun reform that could save 15,000 lives
It’s pretty simple stuff, but don’t expect many GOP Senators to buy in. Here is a taste of Nicholas Kristof’s piece at The New York Times: Let’s just acknowledge that what we’re doing isn’t working, and we need new approaches....